Rail car fissure detecting apparatus



Oct. 20, 1953 c. w. MCKEE ET AL RAIL CAR FISSURE DETECTING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 24, 1949 UNITED s mm Patented Oct. 20, 1953 n-cago, -Ill.,' assig-nors to Teledetector, Inc.,- .Ohi-

cago, .lll.,,. -a corporation of Delaware Applicatiorr'JanuaryM, 1949, Serial-N".72;384

4 Claims. (01. -32437) This invention relates to -a method of detecting fissures in rail' balllying in track and tuna rail car fissure detecting apparatus for performing the method. More particularlyg'thisinvention relatestodiscrim-inating between potential quency.

States Letters Patent No."-2';388683.

no appreciable signal.

sometimes with a double.peak..

signals lying in thesame amplitude range'but 5 quencies;this:.particular phase inverter stage bederived frombothfissure -significantrand noning capableiofzhandling;from' twenty'to twenty significant rail ball flux fields, by, means of'frethousand cycles. I

The invention stemmed from appli- .applicants=rhadz always. assumed that potential cants desire to'eliminate the-twin: triode, phase signalssderivedrfrcnrfluxifieldseaaboutfa raill had inverter stage; of :the amplifier shown in- 'lJnited a .very' wides range; and this 1 invention turns on applicants..experimentszwith their one-half inch Full wave rectification is-described inUnite'd spool 'pickupicefl onivariou'sztypes of. flux fields States Letters Patent No. 23881683, 'where in above-a.-ior?theipurpose:'ofcdetermining the Figure 4'7 thereisshown-a -wiring dia'gra-mrof frequency;rangexwhich.theirwamplifiermust be applicants phase-inverter'stage. -As explained in capable. of :hand'li'ng. this patent, applicants pickup coil, having a 'fiese;;experimentse.confirmedathe; experiments length longitudinally of the rail less than the madeazby'zF-riekeyuandrrChester McKee back length ofzan internal fissure flux fieldfproduces a ina'.l 939 and 11940: before the? filing. of: thenapplipotential signal having'one positiveand oneinegcation .whiclrtbecame patent..No. .2,388",683, alative component (possibly two positivesan'd two thought-theirsignificanceawas not-appreciated at negatives) asaresult of completely-traversing that time). wApp licant Ghester .WQMcKee and a fissure flux field. For-a reason not-understood mickey were. reproducinggpotential signals deby applicants, these components are rarely of rived froma'fluxfields. a-d jacentsa'srail ball onthe equal strength. "The polarity of' -the'initial 'comscreen: oi-azcathodesrayitube. Thetpath 0f the ponent of -apotential -signal may be established beam for?eachrrailztraversed was-some 48: inches by the direction of the windingsoof the pickup long,l.l2 times: they length of-tthe path: delineated coil, the polarity of the-trailing poleofthe prinby a: pen: unit xaridithe tube beam" was" a i very cipal magnetibeing known, that is, assuming that sensitive instrument as; compared with :a pen. the polarity of 'allfissure fluxfields are the same. Applicantszreachemtherathe se eral co c'lusion This assumptionmay be incorrect for in'testthat :thexfrequencyof. an' internal'fissure was ing with the. cathode-ray tube described 'in -th'e many times;greater.thairlthefrequency of a burn patent, sometimes the lea'dingcomponent of the cit-magnetic:Fspot',:andaapparently: .did: not realize potential signal waszthe strongest and sometimes that-.thei frequency or: a tsma'llv internal fissure, thetrailing component wasthe strongest. -Som'egeneratedzibyraucomparatively {weak flux.field timesone component-was so'weakas-toaproduce above-the rail-,..-was not a great. deal-: different thani; the frequency of 2 the verytstrong rail joint Applicants compensated for this frequent" difsignal. ferencein the'strength of the two: components capablei.ofzhandlingrawvide :range. of frequencies of a potential signal by fullWave rectifying the' 40 was-needed. Consequently, they adopted the'tvvin potential signal so that bothcomponents functriodef andibwiniidiode phase inverter stage havtionedthe t, A1th0ugh* thepen nit ing-apotentiometenforp maintaining the: gain of ceivestwo 1' ,-z.t s so'jcloseitogether thetwo'triode circuits constant. Itwasa-very n -t beneath the penzzmoves: 1 delicate. stage and-an .operator; not. knowing. the slowly, t thet-ipen"writestonlyna; singlewma'rk, limits of theltube, could-overloaddtso that the stage. itself produced, non-significant signals. in For.fullwaverectification, applicants-:employed e Visual p tation-means. a: phase. inverter .stageecomprising a;.twin triode t o urr d t t e.p t pp tst th y tube whoseplateszwere connectedzrespectively to might e imi ate: 111110111 a plifier troublebydetheplatesof atwi -qdi d t b .Thisiphaserinqsigning an-amplifier whichzfunctioned best in verter stage gavea gain:of 30 to-1 in anamplihandlingthOSe qu escgenerated by danfier which could amplify almost 1,000,000 t 1, gerous fissurese In.-order to-obtainthe maximum The-amplifier in: generaland the "phase inverter ncw for tu'bB; the relationship the d stage: particular :awere atroublesome because voltage i130 t ecp'latez currentqmust' remainacontube. elements thez amplificationi systemepro-e I22 duced -:;potentials 'signalsr in the output: that i. did not reflects-any changein the rfluxiiabove. a rail. This: phase ainverten stage. hadiab'eenv adopted becausealectronics engineers had always considered itofvalue in handling: awide range of. fre- It .was. just assumed "that. an. amplifier stant,. .butthis optimum .z-relationship requires different voltages and current for tube elements for different frequencies. Applicants set out to learn the frequencies derived by their fissure detection apparatus. They mounted one of their small spool coils on the analyzer of Patent No. 2,388,683 (Fig. 29), and moved the analyzer through flux fields created by various size internal fissures in the rail, including a joint. The signals were reproduced on a cathode ray tube and they confirmed what Figs. through 22 of the patent already indicated, namely, that the duration of a signal from a broken rail or rail joint was not very much greater than the duration of a signal from a five per cent fissure. The applicants were using a coil having a nonmagnetic core on a vertical axis with the outside length of the coil longitudinal of the rail approximating five-eighths of an inch. They adjusted the sweep of the tube beam on the screen so that it moved back and forth with the analyzer carriage and they measured the length of the signals produced by the various sized fissures and breaks in the rail, and found that they were all about five-eighths of an inch long, that is, the longitudinal length of the coil. They concluded that the measurable length of these strong fields in the rail were less than five-eighths of an inch and that the coil, consisting of several thousand turns of very fine wire, determined the length of the signal, that is the frequency. It is perhaps not practical to try to account for this. Frequency is an alternating current passing through zero potential twice. Considering just the leading half of applicants coil mounted on a vertical axis, as it moves into a fissure flux field, the density and direction of the fiux per unit of length traversed by the coil changes abruptly as compared with the direction and density of flux along normal rail. This produces a potential in the coil. As the coil passes into the center of the field, it ceases to cut increasing numbers of lines of flux and the potential induced in the coil drops back to zero. As this leading half of the coil enters the trailing portion of the fissure fiux field, a potential signal of opposite polarity is induced into the coil. Assuming that a fissure flux field is only about one inch long, if the trailing half of the coil is spaced from the leading half of the coil by more than an inch, the coil in passing through the fissure flux field will produce two complete cy cles, that is, the potential on the coil will pass through zero four times. As the trailing windings of the coil are brought closer to the leading windings, the trailing windings have a cer-- tain canceling effect on the potential produced by the leading windings when passing through these short fissure flux fields. Applicants studies indicate that when their short coil in which the leading windings are spaced from the trailing windings by only one-eighth of an inch, this be ing the diameter of the nonmagnetic core, the coil in passing through a fissure flux field does produce two complete cycles. However, the leading half cycle is frequently very weak as is the trailing half cycle and is undetectable excepting when the pickup circuit and amplifier is connected to a sensitive oscillocope. It is, of course, apparent that the length of the pickup coil longitudinally of the rail is in part responsible for the frequency derived from a fissure flux field. Where the leading and trailing windings of a vertically disposed coil are very close together, and when the over-all longitudinal dimension of the coil is about the same as the over-all longitudinal dimension of the fissure flux field, the length of the coil approximately determines the distance that the coil must traverse to produce one alternating current frequency, that is, to move the potential of the induced current through zero twice. In fact, applicants believe that the correct theory is that such a coil produces two complete cycles, but that it is the trailing half of the first cycle and the leading half of the second cycle which are the strongest, strong enough to affect the pen unit, and this can be considered as one full cycle. At any event, the applicants concluded that for all practical purposes, utilizing their small coil, fiveeighths of an inch represented the distance that must be traversed by the pickup coil to produce a. potential signal having a positive and a negative component from a fissure or a break in the rail.

Determining the frequency of the transient fissure flux field potential signal for any given speed of the car was then quite easy. Assuming that the car was moving at eight miles an hour, the car would cover 42,240 feet in an hour I or 11.7 feet per second, or 140 inches per second.

Dividing five-eighths of an inch into 140 inches, one obtains a frequency of approximately 224 per second. Applicants now use a coil having an over-all length along the rail of approximately seven-sixteenths of an inch, which divided into 1&0 inches, gives a frequency of approximately 320 cycles per second. This immediately showed that it was unnecessary to utilize a wide range phase inverter stage.

Applicants then designed the amplifier shown in the single figure in the accompanying drawings.

Continuing to refer to that figure, the numeral ii! identifies in full scale one of applicants pickup coils positioned above a rail ball also in full scale. The pickup is suspended from a car which carries means for energizing a rail ball so as to create flux fields thereabout. The coil is wound on a vertical nonmagnetic core and has a length longitudinally of the rail of approximately seven-sixteenths of an inch. In the circuit of the pickup coil is the resistance of a potentiometer 2. The sliding contact of the potentiometer i2 is carried through the condenser id, to a voltage amplification stage 16, and then through second and third amplification stages i8 and 20. The sine wave signals 22, 23, 2d and 26 illustrate how the phase of the signal is inverted as it passes through each stage.

The output of the stage 26 is led to a push-pull, interstage transformer having a primary 2G, core 28, secondary 3B, and a push-pull connection to ground 32. As is well understood, both the conductor 3L3 and the conductor 36 will receive a true reflection of a potential signal 33, but the phase of the potential signal til will be opposite to the phase of the potential signal 42, although in exact timed relationship. The twin diode tube 44 receives both signals at and 42 on its plates and 55. This tube being conductive in only one direction will permit only the positive half of each signal to affect the circuit on the cathodes and 52 with the result that two positive signals 54 and 56 immediately succeeding each other will be combined on the conductor 58 and successively charge the condenser 60.

The amplified potential signal from the condenser 60 is carried to the grid 62 of a pentode tube 64 deriving its bias from a. battery 65. The

platezfillof the pentodegzfldis. connected to, one DOSG'TOf a pen unit relay. 10,2 the other post being connected through a resistance "[2 r and a .condenser 1-14 to ground at '16. The numeral 138 identifies the power: supply for the-amplifier and an, identifies-the ground.

.The amplifiershould operate at peak emciency when handling potentialrsignals having :a fire-.- quency .of about .350 to- 400. cycles. "This .is

accomplished by selecting those resistors and condensers which maintain a tube operating in thefiat portion of the-EGIP '(relationbetween grid voltage and plate current) curve. The amplifier has a fixed gain, there beingtnopotene tiometer in the circuitof any tubeielement. The same is true ofthepush-ipull, inter-stage transformer 25. The subject'matter QfJthis paragraph is accomplished in ways well knowrrtoelectronics engineers.

:The use of the push-pull, interstage transformerhas-a great'advantage over the-twin-triode phase inverter stage of earlier amplifiers when the amplifier is connected to a pen unit. Where the objective is to depictfaithfully'detail variations in transient signals on the screen of-a cathode ray tube, the phase inverter stageis Valuable, but where all that is wanted is to'snap the relay of a pen unit, a twin triode phase inverter stage is not needed and 'should'not'be used'if it has disadvantages which another: usable *full wave rectifier lacks. Inthe twin triode phase inverter, the potential signal from-the'preceding stage is conducted to one grid whichfunctions in connection with two plates and two cathodes in the same glass envelopewhere two triode tubes are used in place of the twin triode; the potential signalis conducted to two-grids. In order to maintain the comparative strength of the-positive and negative components of a fissurepotential signal, each set of elements must be 4 identicalwhen thetube, or tubes, are installed, and they must wear out at approximatelythe same rate. Neither of these conditions is likely to exist. 'No twin triode tubes whennew are exactly alike, nor are the two-sets of elements in a twin triode tube. Applicants employed a potentiometer to adjust the strength of the signal developed on one plate to the strength of the signal developed on'the other plate. "AIlofwhich'is confusing to aadetector r0211 .operatorsand it too frequently leaves the amplifier out of proper adjustment during testing.

The pushepull, interstage transformer 25 is not subject to these difficulties because the windings on its secondary are uniform'and it ispcssible to tap the secondary to. ground at its exact center. The frequency of 400 cycles is in-the lower audio range and the transformer "can handle a range of 40 to 12,000 cycles without adjustment. Bearing in mind that applicantshave found that the frequency of their potential signals is largely controlled by the length of their coil along the rail and by the speed of the car, it will be appreciated that applicants use of a single small coil provides a system of producing fissure potential signals of fairly uniform frequency which, when amplified and rectified by a constant gain amplifier and limited range rectifier, eliminates the possibility of improper adjustment by an operator.

The great advantage in fissure detecting in providing an amplifier specifically designed to handle fissure flux field frequencies is demonstrated by the following facts. The flux fields above a rail are never uniform. The fields above a ball are 6 continuously a inducing potential signals .to the veryvsensitive.nqnmagneticcoil of the type ape plicants use. These'fields which are non-significant are producedbyallsorts of small irre ularities. in the surface of the rail ball. In theaocompanying chart,

Speed of car (:1: frequency at one mile per hour for field) Length 'of;fl ux field longitudinally- V u H of ra l ball 2 miles 4- miles Smiles 4 2x 4x 2 8a in the first'column, there is shown in the first linethe length of a fiux field caused by a nonsignificant surface detect in the rail audit is listed at one-fourth of an inch. Most of these fluxfieldsare much shorter. In the nextv three columns, x stands for the frequency at one mile per hour for a one half inch field measured longitudinally of the rail and the numeral stands for the speed in miles of the car along the track. Thethree columns, therefore, show the frequencies produced by a flux field having a length above the rail of one-fourth of an inch when the car is operating at speeds of 2, 4 and 8 miles per hour. In the second line, the first column-shows the'length of a typical fissure flux field. This field being twice the length of the non-significant fiuxfieldshown inthefirst line, will" produce a frequency which is one-half the frequency shown in the'first' line and this is indicated by the numeral :c. in the second column. The frequencies produced. by this'field for 2,- 4 and 8 miles an hour are,therefore, represented by 32, 2.11: and 43:. Applicants designed their amplifier to handle free quencies in a range slightly above and. slightly below 4x. This maytbe illustrated by a, curve forthe amplifier wherein the line from to 92 indicates the amplifiersgain factorasfrequency increases from zero to 3.1: which is-notfully amplified by the amplifier, and the line from di to 96 indicates the amplifierfsgain factor .as frequency increases above i-5a: which is not-fully amplified by the amplifier. vThe line from 92 to 94' indicates that the amplifiers gain factor is'fully utilized and substantially constant in handling frequencies of 3x to 550. With the car moving along the track at aspeed of eight miles an hour, fissulre flux fields having a length along therail of onehalf an inch will produce potential signals having a req en of a nronma ely ate be ter :Sr to 5x. These signals are amplified satisfactorily by the amplifier and reproduced by the pen unit. Potential signals from the one-fourth inch field, however, have a frequency of 8x and this frequency exceeds the optimum operating point of the amplifier, with the result that these signals are less likely to actuate the pen unit. If the speed of the car is reduced to four miles an hour, the signals derived from fissure flux fields have a frequency of 2x which is outside the optimum range of the amplifier and should not reproduce well on the pen unit. Moreover, the signals from the non-significant surface defects having a length of one-fourth of an inch, are now in a frequency of 4m, squarely in the center of the optimum operational range of the amplifier, and they are more likely to produce potential signals which will cause the pen unit to write.

This is the fact. Applicants have run a test track containing fissures of known sizes and known locations at eight miles an hour with this equipment and their pen unit has written satisfactory potential signals produced by the fissure flux fields, only rarely writing signals from the short, non-significant flux fields above a rail. When the car was re-run over the same test track at only four miles an hour, the amplitude of the fissure flux field signals was less and the pen wrote many signals derived from short, nonsignificant fiux fields above the rail.

This method of amplifying only those signals having a frequency typical of the frequency of dangerous internal fissures constitutes a method of eliminating many high frequency signals derived from non-significant short flux fields above the rail, such as those caused by burns, and of eliminating many low frequency signals derived from non-significant long fiux fields such as magnetic spots in the rail and rail braces and joint bars. The method is to be contrasted with eliminating potential signals from harmless flux fields by amplitude control. Most potential signals from non-significant flux fields above a rail ball are of low amplitude as compared with the amplitude of a signal from a small fissure fiux field and these low amplitude potential signals are suppressed by the potentiometer 12. However, there are many non-significant flux fields above rail balls that do generate potential signals having an amplitude as great as those derived from fissure flux fields, and until applicants discovered that they could discrim nate between these signal of like am litude by means of differences in their frequency, applicants received the nonsignificant, high amplitude signals on their tape. These non-significant high amplitude signals, however, are distinguishable from the high amplitude fissure signals by their frequency, and the present method and apparatus makes it possible to eliminate most of them so that the tape observer is not troubled with them.

Having thus described their invention, what applicants claim is:

l. A rail fissure detector car supported on track wheels comprising means for energizing a rail, means for moving the car along the rail at a selected speed, a pickup coil wound on a vertical axis and having a length as measured along the rail or less than the length of an internal fissure flux field, a constant gain amplifier having its input connected solely to this pickup coil and having its stages set at the optimum point for handling the frequencies produced by the pickup coil in traversing fissure flux fields at the selected speed, and a visual signal presentation means connected to the output of the amplifier.

2. A rail fissure detector car supported on track wheels comprising means for energizing a rail, means for moving the car along the rail at a selected speed, a pickup coil wound on a vertically disposed, nonmagnetic core and having a length as measured along the rail of less than the length of an internal fissure flux field, a constant gain amplifier having its input connected solely to this pickup coil and having its stages set at the optimum point for handling the frequencies produced by the pickup coil in traversing fissure flux fields at the selected speed, and a visual signal presentation means connected to the output of the amplifier.

3. A rail fissure detector car supported on track wheels comprising mean for energizing a rail, means for moving the car along the rail at a selected speed, a pickup coil wound on a vertical axis and having a length as measured along the rail of less than the length of an internal fissure fiux field, a constant gain amplifier having its input connected solely to this pickup coil and having its stages set at the optimum point for handling the frequencies produced by the pickup coil in traversing fissure flux fields at the selected speed, a full wave rectifier stage in the amplifier circuit, and a visual signal presentation means connected to the output of the amplifier.

4. A rail fissure detector car supported on track wheels comprising means for energizing a rail, means for moving the car along the rail at a selected speed, a pickup coil wound on a vertical axis and having a length as measured along the rail of less than the length of an internal fissure fiux field, a constant gain amplifier having its input connected solely to this pickup coil and having its stages set at the optimum point for handling the frequencies produced by the pickup coil in traversing fissure flux fields at the selected speed, a push-pull, interstage transformer positioned in the amplifier circuit, a twin diode tube having its cathodes respectively connected to the two leads of the secondary of the transformer, and a visual signal presentation means connected to the output of the amplifier.

CHESTER W. MCKEE. RICHARD W. MCKEE.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,955,953 Drake Apr. 24, 1934 1,367,812 Drake July 24, 1934 2,089,967 Keevil Aug. 1'7, 1937 2,203,256 Drake June 4, 1940 2,244,606 Bigelow June 3, 1941 2,356,967 Barnes et al. Aug. 29, 1944 2,356,968 Barnes et al. Aug. 29, 1944 2,388,683 Frickey et al. Nov. 13, 1945 2,461,252 Barnes et al. Feb. 8, 1949 

